Off-road vehicles, including such vehicles as sport utility trucks, all terrain vehicles (ATVs), dirt bikes and snowmobiles, are vehicles specifically designed to include features such as special tires, four-wheel drive, tracks or skis to permit their operation and facilitate transportation away from paved highway or road surfaces. In addition to their utilitarian aspects, in recent years such vehicles have experienced a surge in popularity with persons using them for largely recreational purposes. People use them to transport camping, fishing and hunting equipment into remote areas, and enjoy them because they provide the exhilaration associated with exploration and high speed, and the challenge of handling a vehicle on an unimproved surface.
One the aforementioned vehicles, the snowmobile, is basically a self-powered, motorized sled having a chassis, two steerable front skis and an engine-driven, snow-contacting track in the rear. In certain areas of the United States, e.g., the New England states, Mountain states, and, particularly, in the upper Midwest, snowmobiles have become extremely popular. Thirty years ago, there were few of these machines and those that were available were quite slow and primitive. With the surge in interest and popularity, the machines have become quite sophisticated and very fast, attracting even more interest. Snowmobiles are owned, rented and used in the thousands and a well-defined off-road trail system, complete with traffic control signs, has been developed.
With the growth and popularity of snowmobiles come attendant problems. The use of the snowmobile by persons unaccustomed to following trails in rural or remote areas results in people becoming lost. Less than skilled operators, the increased traffic on trail systems and the high speeds attainable by modern snowmobiles, which may be in excess of 100 miles per hour, pose dangers, and the frequency and severity of accidents involving one or more snowmobiles has increased. The increased use of such vehicles has also put pressure on game reserves and wilderness areas because such areas can be accessed or explored easily during the winter months.
Departments of natural resources, law enforcement officials and emergency services, such as ambulance services, have an interest in acquiring and using off-road vehicles to provide regular patrols, policing functions and emergency and rescue services. The off-road vehicles, including snowmobiles, used by these officials typically have been vehicles commercially available to the public at large, which are then adapted to signal that they are official vehicles and to perform desired functions. It would be advantageous if commercially available off-road vehicles, including snowmobiles, could be provided with a lighting system that sets them apart from the machines used by the public, as well as signals to the public or to a specific individual that the vehicle is an official vehicle which may be on a particular mission.